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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 24 March 2005 00:00 |
The Story of America's Greatest Running Legend, Steve Prefontaine
The Steve Prefontaine story is one of the greatest success/tragedy
stories you'll ever hear. If you aren't into running, just think of
Steve Prefontaine as kind of like a running version of Tiger Woods in
the year 2000. Even though he was in a sport that was relatively
unpopular, he managed to become a superstar. Even though Michael Jordan
was the athlete that brought Nike to the next level, the first ever
athlete to rock a pair of Nike's was Steve Prefontaine.
What made Pre special was the fact that he was a competitor above
everything else. If you've ever seen video of his 1972 Olympics, it's
obvious that he could've coasted in and at least gotten a medal. He
wasn't interested in getting a medal, though. His only interest was
winning. You've heard coaches say the cliche "leave it all on the
floor" all the time. Pre was a real life example of what leaving it all
on the floor was all about.
This book running at only 163 pages is an easy read. The book isn't
your typical biography in that it doesn't discuss the details of his
childhood, his family, his girlfriend, and his friends. In fact, these
things are hardly mentioned at all. The focus of the book tends to
stick with his training and his racing. It seems appropriate because
Pre was constantly consumed with how his training and racing. Fans back
in the day loved to cheer for him and runners today still look at him
as an idol. Being a runner myself, I find myself trying to find out
everything I can about Steve Prefontaine. I've seen both the movies and
I've read the book. I've went on the internet and found some videos of
Pre running from the 70's including his 1972 Olympic race.
The secondary focus of the book is Pre's challenges of AAU, the
governing body of amateur track and field in the 70's. He thought it
was unfair that he had to live in poverty. He thought it was unfair
that nobody seemed to care about track athletes during the three years
in between the Olympics. He wasn't out to get rich, but he did fight to
try to get what he felt he deserved. Sadly, only in his death did many
of the things he fought for come to fruition.
The fact is, I'll never run a sub-4:00 mile. I'll never come even close
to any of the times that Pre used to put up. I'm not the runner. I
don't have the mental toughness or the inner desire that he had. I do
feel like I have a marginal amount of mental toughness and inner
desire, though. To see what others before me went through makes me want
to improve myself. Of course, the day that I write this review, I took
a day off of running. It was planned, though, so I'm not totally
slacking.
If you are a runner, competitive or otherwise, I highly recommend
checking out this book. Even if you are just a fan of sports, you'll
probably enjoy this book. It's not for everyone, but it's a great
sports biography about a very important figure from yesteryear.
-B-
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